1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, and in particular, to improved manufacturing process for microstrip element antenna used in RFID tags.
2. Background Art
Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags are electronic devices that may be affixed to items whose presence is to be detected and/or monitored. Some RFID tags include microstrip element antennas, also known as patch antennas to transmit and receive information. Microstrip element antennas are mass produced multilayered devices requiring a complicated assembly process. Present assembly techniques for microstrip antennas require a considerable degree of manual assembly thereby increasing the cost of the final product and the production time required for manufacturing an individual microstrip antenna. Because of this complicated assembly process, it is not cost effective to use microstrip antennas for high volume tag applications.
Thus, what is needed are ways to improve and automate manufacturing process for microstrip antenna to reduce the production time and cost.
The present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers indicate identical or functionally similar elements. Additionally, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the drawing in which the reference number first appears.